My Baby Saved My Life -o7-

“Are you going to be a good girl Gracie and sleep all night?” I asked her. She whined.

Once I had her in her pajamas I set her on my bed. She looked so tiny on such a big bed, it made me laugh. I changed into my pajamas as well and then went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and wash my face. As I unwrapped my new toothbrush, I looked at myself in the mirror, thinking back to what Kyle said about the reason I didn’t have friends.

My blonde hair was naturally super straight, and it almost reached my waist. I didn’t think there was anything special about that. I thought my green eyes were pretty, but they looked better on my daughter. My nose was just a normal nose. I had full lips, but so did a lot of other people. I didn’t see the overall beauty. Grace started crying when I was drying my face off, so I ran over to my room to pick her up before she could wake up Ty. I went to the rocking chair and tried to get her to sleep. I finally sang a lullaby to her and after a few minutes, she drifted to sleep.

I put her in her crib, got in bed, and turned out the light. It was a while before I could go to sleep. I had a lot on my mind.

I woke up to Grace’s cries. I hurried out of bed, hoping Ty wasn’t woken up, and picked up my daughter, saying, “Shh, shh, baby, please don’t cry.” I tried rocking her again and singing to her but that didn’t work. I changed her diaper, but she continued crying. I tried to breast feed, but she wasn’t interested. It seemed like she just wanted to cry. She kept spitting her pacifier out. After fifteen minutes of her crying, I unlocked the apartment door and hurried downstairs. I turned the bakery light on, and looked out a window. The stars were still out, and I could just make out the barest hint of sunlight. I checked the clock on the wall. It was two in the morning. Well, at least I got a few hours of sleep.

I tried everything, but my baby just would not stop crying. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Ty came down the stairs at two-twenty, wearing pajama bottoms and no shirt. His abs and Pecs were impressive. Wow, I should not be noticing that, I told myself.

Ty was rubbing his eyes sleepily and walked over to where I was sitting on a chair.

“I’m really sorry she woke you.” I said over my daughters wails. “I just can’t get her to stop.”

He held out his arms and I gave Grace to him. She looked up to see who was holding her and stopped crying immediately.

“Thank you,” I whispered, putting my head in my hands. I was exhausted.

Ty rocked Grace gently and pulled up a chair next to me. He put a hand on my shoulder and I looked up at him. He had bags under his eyes, and I could only imagine what I looked like.

“You should go get some sleep; it’s your first day tomorrow.”

I looked at him like he was insane. “No, Grace is my responsibility, not yours. You should get some sleep. I’m really sorry for keeping you up.”

“She’s obviously going to keep crying unless I hold her, so it makes more sense for you to sleep.” I just shook my head, too tired to argue.

“Alright,” Ty said, standing. “Come on.” He held out his hand for me, and I took it, wondering what he was up to.

He led me back up stairs and into my bedroom, all the while holding my hand. He guided me to my bed and made me lay down, and then he lay on the other side, still holding Grace. I was too tired to think of any other idea, so I just went to sleep.

The alarm woke me forty-five minutes later. I looked next to me and saw no one. That scared me. I jumped out of bed and looked into Grace’s crib, relief washing through me when I saw her sleeping figure. I ran over to the bathroom and took a super quick shower, not seeing or hearing Ty anywhere. He must have already gone downstairs.

I didn’t have time to blow my hair dry, so I just brushed it and let it air dry. As fast as I could, I changed into jeans and a black wife beater, lacing on my converse as I walked over to the dresser. I pulled out a pair of purple overalls and a white shirt, dressed Grace quickly, and grabbed the diaper bag. I stocked it as fast as was humanly possible. Then I made a bottle and was out the door, a diaper bag over my shoulder, a baby in one arm, and a bottle in the other.

Downstairs I passed Ty and a teenage girl with bright pink hair without saying hello. I was in a hurry. I checked the clock before it was out of sight. I had five minutes until four. Grace started crying when I started running. The day care was just two buildings away. When I got to the door, I stopped running. A shocked young woman was standing behind the desk.

“Miss, are you alright?” she asked.

I didn’t have time to respond. I nodded when I got to the desk, set the bottle down on the counter, and filled out the sign-in forms. My writing was barely legible. I handed my crying baby to the woman and said, “I’ll be back at six tonight.”

I set the diaper bag on the counter and started walking out.

“Miss…Franklin. We’re only open until five.”

“I’ll pay extra,” I yelled, running out the door. I sprinted back to the bakery, tying my hair up in a high ponytail in the process. I prayed I wouldn’t trip. When I walked in the door, I immediately looked up at the clock as the hour hand hit the four. YES. I made it.

I had my hands on my knees and was breathing hard. I looked up after a few seconds and saw Ty, the girl with bright pink hair who I assumed was Amelia, and an overweight, short, balding man who I assumed was Marco, all staring at me with wide eyes.

A moment of silence passed, and then they all burst into loud fits of laughter. I had to join in, still out of breath.

“Here,” Ty said, walking up to me and holding out an apron.

“Thanks,” I said, putting it on. “For last night too.”

Amelia and Marco chorused, “Oooooooooooooooooh.”

Ty turned to look at them and they shut up.

“I’ll be in the kitchen,” Marco said, backing up.

“Me too,” Amelia said. “

“Not so fast Amelia,” Ty said. “I need you here.”

Amelia sighed and trudged toward us.

“Claire,” I said, holding out my hand.

“Amelia,” she said shaking it. She was a tiny girl, but her face said she was maybe seventeen or so.

“Now get to work you two,” Ty said, and then headed into the kitchen.

Amelia started pulling chairs down, and I helped. Ty came in and out of the kitchen, putting various pastries on the shelves behind the glass. When we finished with the chairs, Amelia started sweeping the floor, and I went back to help put out the pastries.

Overall, it wasn’t a bad day. It was just like my old job as a waitress at the café. I didn’t screw up any orders, and I didn’t spill anything on the floor. Ty had made it sound like this place was extremely busy every second it was open, but there were usually one or two empty tables. That didn’t mean I was never busy. Since it was only Amelia and I who were serving, we never had a second to spare.

While I was working, I was thinking of Grace every minute. It broke my heart to be away from her for so long, but I knew I had to work and make money to pay Ty back. This was life. I visited Grace on every break I had. She was never crying when I walked in, and that eased my stress.

When we closed shop, I got to cleaning all of the tables while Amelia did the windows and Ty, the counter. He counted the money in the register while my pink-haired colleague and I put the chairs on the tables. Marco finally emerged from the kitchen to grab the leftover pastries and put them back in the kitchen. The whole time I was dying to go get Grace.

Amelia and I took off our aprons and hung them up, and then Ty gave us each our tips. I had seventy dollars. Well, that was a heck of a lot more than I was used to getting. I wondered why Ty was giving this to me when he knew I would just have to give it back.

Marco emerged again, and Amelia hooked her arm through his and said to him, “Ready to go?” with affection. He nodded, and they said goodbye and left.

I raised my eyebrows, looking pointedly at their retreating figures and back to Ty.

He laughed. “No, no, I know what you’re thinking. He’s like a father to her. Marco is happily married.”

“Okay good. I’ll be right back, I’m gonna go get Grace.”

“Wait just a sec Claire.” He wasn’t working Ty anymore. He was friendly, unstressed, giving Ty now. “You’re probably wondering why I gave you the tip money.”

I nodded.

“Well,” he hesitated. “You’re probably going to refuse, but I’m not taking no for an answer. The tip money is yours, and you can only pay me back with your weekly salary, and trust me, it won’t take long.” He was smiling.

As much as I wanted to refuse, I knew he wouldn’t let me do it my way. And was he trying to say I was being paid a lot, that I would be able to pay him back soon?

“You’re unbelievable,” I told him, smiling. Then I hurried out the door to pick up my daughter.

The day care was completely empty except for the woman I had spoken to earlier and my daughter. Grace was sleeping in the woman’s arms.

“Thank you so, so much,” I said to her when I walked in. I scooped my daughter from her arms.

She smiled. “Not at all. Grace rarely cries. She’s a very beautiful baby.”

“I know,” I said, smiling down at her. It felt so good to have her in my arms.

“Miss Franklin?” the woman said looking at me.

“Oh, please call my Claire.”

“Alright, Claire. I’ve never seen you around here before. Are you visiting? Oh, and by the way, I’m Hannah.”

“No Hannah, I just moved here. Ty who runs the bakery next door was nice enough to let me and Grace stay with him.” I picked up Grace’s diaper bag as I was talking, being careful so I didn’t jostle her.

“How nice,” Hannah said, her dark curls bouncing as she walked to the door. “Ty’s a sweetheart. I’m sorry but I have to lock up now. It was nice to meet you.”

“You too,” I said, walking out the door. “See you tomorrow.”

She waved. The people here in Santa Clarita were nice. A lot nicer than in Portland.